Work and Play

Work:
This week in the work domain of life, Abe made strides on his day care project. I continued working primarily on my cross-cultural preschool research project. Ella's class is learning about the circus in preparation for their circus field trip in a few weeks. She has also started trying to sound out written French words. Jonah's big accomplishment was walking up all of the stairs that lead to Sacre Coeur instead of taking the funicular (which is an accomplishment even for an adult, so for a 2 year old, it's really something).

Play:
I borrowed new toys from the lending library at work called Kapla blocks. These simple blocks are a popular French toy. Ella went to an atelier with Olivia a couple of weeks ago to learn how to build with them, so she dove right in and started making some pretty cool houses. It's amazing how this toy brings out the best in cooperative playing between Ella and Jonah. She builds a house and he builds the road that leads to it, and they play happily together for an hour.

During our "play time" this week, Abe and I saw the new Harry Potter movie, checked out the Bon Marche (the left bank department store) and the amazing fine food store next to it, and visited the Mitterand French National Library. This was a fascinating thing to see. It's comprised of 4 tall glass buildings shaped like open books on the corners of a huge plaza. The plaza is built of wood (giving it the look of a boardwalk). There are trees lining it, but the wind is so strong on the plaza that the trees have to live in metal cages or they will break. There are about a dozen areas, each with a different concentration (fine arts, history, etc), that look very inviting for reading or looking through the stacks. However, you need to reserve a place in advance, so we didn't get to go in. There are several exhibits there, as well as the Versailles globes that we originally saw at the Grand Palais.

The weekend was very busy on the social front. Saturday evening we were invited to a dinner party by Cindy (Ella's friend, Olivia's, mother). The party was at the home of her (French) boyfriend, Jean-Louis. Two other couples were there too - Jean-Louis' neighbors (a French woman originally from Alsace) and her boy friend (whose parents were American, but who has always lived in France); and 2 American journalists who have lived in Paris for 6 years. Cindy originally told us the party started at 8, but that we should come early so the kids could eat first. Friday, she mentioned to me that one of the couples would be late, so we shouldn't worry if we were late too. We took this to mean that we should come late, and we had the kids nap in the afternoon in preparation. We showed up around 8:15, the kids didn't eat until 9, and the grown-ups until around 10 (a true French dinner). The conversation was entertaining (an interesting mix of English and French, and a blend of cultures and backgrounds that kept it very lively). When Jean-Louis found out we were from the mid-west, his first question was, "do you hunt?"The food was delicious (consomme, pot-au-feu, salad, excellent cheeses - including a new favorite Mont D'or, and banana cake). The kids did great - Ella, Jonah, and Olivia played for hours in the other room - we barely knew they were there.

Sunday, we had one last get together with our friends Roberto, Alexandra, Helena, and Laura, who leave this week to move to Brazil. They met us at the market on Richard Lenoir and we bought all kinds of goodies. We came back to our place and cooked, and ate, and visited, and played with Kapla blocks all afternoon.